Wilmington Railroad Museum
Hours of Operation
Closed Sunday
May 1 through May 24
Sunday: 1:00 - 4:00 PM
Support the Museum
WITH MUCH GRATITUDE!
The Museum recently received two grants to support additional development in programs and facilities.
~ FROM LANDFALL FOUNDATION: $4000 to establish a "Train Camp" for the summer of 2012. We'll be organizing several one-week sessions to stimulate creativity and imagination within the context of railroading and model railroad pastimes. Geared for grade-shoolers, these sessions will be part education, part activity, and part skill-building, based on an age-appropriate curriculum and adult mentoring.
~ FROM CAPE FEAR GARDEN CLUB: $2984 to beautify Railroad Heritage Square with planters and shrubbery. Now that area construction is complete, we installed touches that soften the industrial aspect of Warehouse B and are consistent with surrounding streetscape improvements. Improvements include columnar greenery around the 1855 station bell, and planters near the end of the wheel lathe and access ramp.
Special Notice - Many local businesses are supporting the great work of the Museum as it enters a new era of service. Click on "a business" below to see who is helping!
Click Here to find out about how you can add your support:
as an individual/family
as a business!
The Wilmington Railroad Museum displays hundreds of authentic artifacts to illustrate and interpret the role of railroads in building and connecting the nation.
Come see what you can discover about the railroad history of Wilmington
The engineer shows you how to dress for work, what he had to study and learn, and some of the tools of his trade - no shorts, t-shirts or flip-flops here!
The Brakeman's tools were important to securely couple cars and keep them connected safely.
Imagine the pleasure of fine dining aboard a rolling restaurant, complete with specially designed china, glassware, silver, and linens.
Route map of North Carolina Railroads in the 1860s. In red, the Wilmington & Weldon was a vital link between the port of Wilmington and Virginia, moving people and goods to and from the last open port of the Confederacy.
Station agents did something of everything to for the railroads - booked passengers, checked baggage, recorded goods & freight, packaged the mail for pickup, inspected areas up and down the line, set up signals, decoded telegraph messages, passed orders on to passing trains, and much more.
Set in the 1940s, the agent's office holds a shoeshine stand, scale, and a coal stove to heat the small country station.
Wilmington was a headquarters town for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and our office display (set for the 1920s) shows off vintage equipment and surroundings used by thousands of office workers over the years.
No desk phone, no computer, no work cubbies, no cell phones, no electronic records or email (also, no air conditioning).